An openly gay journalist for a Russian investigative newspaper has appealed to a court to grant him refugee status in a bid to avoid deportation to Uzbekistan for migration violations. Ali Feruz has worked in Moscow since 2011 for the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, where he has reported on hate crimes, the rights of migrant workers and discrimination against LGBT people. Feruz, whose real name is Khudoberdi Nurmatov, is an Uzbek national and fled Uzbekistan in 2008 after he was arrested and tortured by security forces, who tried to force him to become an informant, according to Human Rights Watch.